“Hail, Dubus III, defender of the downtrodden and the very stupid! While the quality of the writing is top-notch, the subplots themselves are not. The characters find themselves in fairly normal situations which are propelled into absurdity by their resulting knee-jerk reactions. The result comes across as forced, as drama expended for the sake of drama. And while the characters' reactions and impulses are certainly true to character, this itself is hardly a comfort. It only proves that the characters we're supposed to care about are short-fused, desperate people at the end of their ropes who will do just about anything. I won't encourage people not to read this book - only be aware that it should be taken with a grain of salt. Perhaps two or three, actually.”
